Pray According to God’s Will
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns
But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.
And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins..
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
In the sermon on the mount Jesus said; Not everyone who says to Me, Lord! Lord! shall enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord! Lord! Did we not prophesy in Your name, and through Your name throw out demons, and through Your name do many wonderful works? And then I will say to them I never knew you! Depart from Me, those working lawlessness! (MKJV) Everyone who is serious about following Jesus must ask what is God’s will and how to do it.
God’s will is praying Psalms
Ephesians 5:17-19 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
The word of God is self-explained enough here, the will of God is to be filled with the Spirit, and the way to be filled with the Spirit is to speak to our self in psalms.
The will of God in Christ Jesus
Another verse about God’s Will is written in First Thessalonians 5:16-18;
Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
The detailed methods and instructions of how to practice are all written in the book Psalms.
God’s will is you become holy
For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: (1Ts4:1) Sanctification means to be made holy, And it is written; Be holy because I am holy.
God’s will is to do good
It is written; For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men (1Pe2:15 NKJV)
My Father’s Will
(John 6:40) For this is my Father’s will, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him to life on the last day.” believes in him means to imitate him. (John 14:12) Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.
Jesus totally surrendered his own will to do the Father’s will (John 12:49) For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. And (John 14:30-31) I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me. Therefore, God’s will is everyone who believes Jesus will imitate him, to do our Father’s will.
It is written, (1 Peter 4:1-2 NIV) Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.
But can we hear God’s spoken word the same way our Savior did? He said, (John 8:47 NIV) Whoever belongs to God hears what God says (rhema). The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” Again, (John 10:27) My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;
His voice is heard by heart, conscience and faith. (1 Timothy 1:5 NIV) The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
The first step is to ask God to open the eye of our heart, as Paul demonstrated to us, (Ephesians 1:17-18 NIV) I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, Here the “knowing the hope” by the heart is through meditation, not audible voice.
The cost of following Jesus
Jesus said; If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
How to pick up one’s own cross
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Rom12:1)
The scripture is telling us; without offering one’s body as a living sacrifice he can’t serve God, nor can he know the will of God. In today’s language, it is giving up one’s freedom to live for himself and willing to become slave to God’s righteousness. That is to deny or abandon his own plan and take up his cross — fight against sin, this is as the scripture said; “holy acceptable unto God”.
The Lord’s prayer.
The lord’s prayer is all about God’s will be done on earth. God has detailed plan for each of his servant, whoever serves him, or live for him would have to ask: what is your plan for me today? To ask the Lord; Give us this day our daily bread, this daily bread is God’s will/plan today for me to do.
Jesus described his daily bread in John 4:34 “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.” (NKJV) Whether it’s the same as yesterday or different each day all depends on God’s plan. He did everything according to the Father’s plan as he said in John8:28; Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. The key is “do nothing of myself.”
Spiritual food = doing God’s will
The will of God written in the bible is the principle and summery, but detailed instruction on how to carry it out for our daily life was given by seeking God through prayer. Because God has already prepared everything before we were born as the scripture says, (Psalms 139:16-18 ASV) Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand:
We see the will of God for his children is more the sand, it includes instruction for every day’s activity. Jesus said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ ” Here the word is from Greek “rhema“, it means the spoken word right now, not what was written before (“logos”). That spoken word is the detailed instruction of what to do and how to do.
In Acts chapter 10:9; The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. (NKJV) He must prayed for the daily bread and was answered by a vision, so he can know what to do for that day. In doing so Peter carried out God’s will everyday.
Psalm taught us how to pray; (143:8) Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: (5:8) Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face. Those who truly desire to serve God will ask him to “teach me” and “lead me” on their daily activities，for they want to live for Christ.
The Lord taught Peter how to do God’s will three times in verse 13; What God has made clean, you do not call common. This is the rhema word of God, Peter obeyed, he gave up his own understanding. But I have missed God’s will far much more than I actually did. The reason is I preferred my own way. Only after praying the book of Psalms for a few years, then the eye of my heart are slowly opened, and I started to seek the will of God.. More details click my recent Doing our Father’s Will and Daily Bread and Trusting God